Refinement

In several places over the last couple of days, the subject of refined perception has come up. One fellow described how on a walk, everything seemed to come alive and be brighter, more 3D. Another shared seeing fluorescent colours but without 3D. How they were woken at night with song and discovered it was their body singing. I’ll share a few observations here.

This is refined perception. As we culture and cleanse our nervous system, more refined values of what is already there begin to become perceived by the various senses. Again, as we change the perceiver, what is perceived shifts. We change our world.

Sight can be the most obvious. You may find the brightness and aliveness deepens until that sense of aliveness comes alive, you literally see life itself. Some begin to see qualities of things, the gunas or subtle elements. These are typically described as auras but note that auras are not one thing. There are a series of values, each with their own quality sets. The subtle bodies we could say. The field values between pure energy and form.

The colours can be quite bright but they’re not in physical space so not as defined. The subtler they are, the less defined. More deeply, the light of creation itself can be seen. Everything glows golden. We literally see the light of God.

Still more deeply, the movement of stillness within Itself. The flow of love that underlies all expression. We see creation as it happens.

We are immersed in this at all times. It is only in how we look. Put another way, who it is we look from.

Refinement of hearing can discover layers of experience the same way.
Vibration, tone, and song.
You may find that everything has it’s song and the song is full of wisdom. You may also find everything has a ‘true name’. A name that encapsulates it’s form. There is a direct relationship between name and form on a subtle level, called Ritam for short, that consciousness which accepts only truth.

Others may find refinement of touch, feeling vibrations and tones. The body may seem to be intensely or subtly vibrating inside. You might find you can feel the vibrations when you touch something. As everything is formed of vibration, everything has vibrational qualities. One can literally feel the vibe. Deeper, you can feel life and consciousness in what you touch. Deeper, when you touch you feel both touching and being touched. You are one with the perceived.

Taste can draw out the richness in quality fresh food, taste the life in it. Smell is another layer. It’s associated with the earth element so is the closest to the physical. There can be divine sweetness floating in the air. There is also a kind of synesthesia were the senses draw together close to their source. We taste something we touch or smell, see the colour of a sound.

This stuff can sometimes arise in the most surprising of spaces.

At some point, this refinement also reveals life forms that abide in subtler values of consciousness. The doers that bring ideas into form.

Spiritual progress leads to changes in the physiology to support this, so it’s not just an instant thing, although we may have flashes of it here and there. There’s actually a whole science to the changes in subtle physiology. Refined digestion of food produces a substance called Ojas which refines, vitalizes and immunizes the body. Gives the skin that glow.

Strong presence and transcendence can trigger a subtle gland in the upper back of the throat to produce what is called Soma or Amrita. You may notice a sweet taste sometimes after a very deep meditation or profound experience.

The ambrosia of immortality, the nectar of the gods, indeed the very fountain of youth in legends of old. Soma is praised so highly in the ancient texts that some have attempted to find the ‘juice’ or even hallucinogenic mushroom thought to be described, not realizing it is within us. They miss the point that the sages are not describing an acid trip but the world we already inhabit.

We can see that openness to these experiences can make a difference in willingness to perceive but in some ways it has more to do with habits of perception and refinement of our vehicle. Clarity on the levels of our being. It’s worth noting that these should be considered side effects, not goals.

If you’re not getting this stuff and want it, not to worry. It’s not like we culture it in the west. Let it come in its own due course and it will develop naturally. You don’t want it too early or you can get distracted. Just as you tend to emphasize certain senses, so too will that be where you’re most likely to see it develop. But don’t expect it to be like any concept of it. Life is always grander than any idea we might have.
Davidya

Recently, I heard it described that soma is actually produced by the brain and is secreted through a gland in the back of the throat, as above. It then travels into our digestion where it can refine the physiology to support refined perception.